(Wine-Searcher) - Claire Adamson takes a look at the most consistently expensive wines on the Wine-Searcher database.

No, you have not accidentally stumbled onto the Most Expensive Burgundy Wines article. Rather, if you coughed up a whopping $56,635 to buy the world's 10 most expensive wines, you'd be left with a pile of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the revered Côte d'Or, with a couple of very sweet Rieslings to finish.

There aren't that many places in the world outside of Burgundy where the wines made from a vineyard on one side of a dirt track cost $200, and the ones on the other side can bring in $3000. The top vineyards are just a few hectares at the most, and have such a reputation that people will go absolutely loopy for them. And simple economics tells us that when demand far outstrips supply, prices go waaaaaay up.

Which is why eight of the world's most expensive wines are from this golden slope in the east of France. The Mosel river, which winds its way through southwestern Germany, contributes a couple of Rieslings, but Napa Valley, which is also famous for its ridiculous prices, has just missed out on a spot in the top 10.

In the interest of keeping the list manageable, we've made sure to only include wines that have at least 10 offers available across at least four vintages, two of which need to have been in the last ten years. This excludes the wines of the cult Californian producer Sine Qua Non, which would have otherwise dominated the list.

1. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru, Côte de Nuits, France

There are no prizes for guessing number one. DRC, as it is known affectionately by people who will absolutely never get to try it (for example, me), has an average price of $13,346 a bottle. This seems insane, even to those with a respectable cellar, but when you consider the care that is taken to make this wine and the fact that it comes from the Romanée-Conti vineyard, which is probably the most valuable 1.81 hectares on this planet earth, it's almost worth it. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most counterfeited wines in the world, so beware the bargain – Rudy may have had his hands on it at some point.

2. Egon Müller-Scharzhof Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Mosel, Germany

Riesling may have a reputation for being perennially uncool, but this wine, like Bill Gates, proves you don't have to be cool to be worth a ton of money. The grapes for this wine come from the Scharzhofberg vineyard in the Saar valley of the Mosel, and are dusted with just the right amount of Botrytis cinerea to make for a transcendentally sweet and balanced wine. Like many Trockenbeerenauslese wines, it's only made in absolutely killer years, and in tiny quantities – so getting your hands on a bottle of this might be harder than you think, even if you've got a spare $8339 to spend.

3. Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru, Côte de Beaune, France

This wine is the first of two on the list that comes from what is arguably the greatest white wine vineyard in the whole entire world – Le Montrachet. This "scabby hillside" is the Simone Biles of southern Burgundy, its perfect form lending itself to complex, balanced wines deserving of gold medal after gold medal. The one made by Domaine Leflaive is at the top of the heap – the domaine is focused almost entirely on producing wines from Chardonnay, so there's been plenty of opportunity to perfect the Le Montrachet Grand Cru, and justify the exorbitant amounts of money people will pay for it – $5774 a bottle, to be exact.